Morceli Vs El G in their primes

Let's see...

El Guerrouj has run 3:26.00 and 3:43.13

while

Morceli has run 3:27.37 and 3:44.39

so..

El G would probably nip Morceli most of the time, much like he does to Bernard Lagat. However, there would be a loss here and there..

but Morceli ran his times by himself mostly - ElG had the benefit of being pushed to the line for several of his WR's. When Morceli got his WR's he had like a 5sec spread or more on the competition.

Oddly enough, I just watched the '96 1,500 metre final on video just the other day (honestly) while cleaning out the junk from underneath the telly.

It's such as shame that El G tripped at the bell ... he was just moving onto Morceli's shoulder (about a metre behind) and both were looking good. Morceli, intelligently, hit the accelerator the second he saw El G hit the deck, and Cacho had to leap over El G (landing and hopping on one foot), therby losing three metres and never getting closer. Morceli ran a sub-53 final 400 metres, easing up at the finish.

That final lap could have been a classic head-to-head between two athletes that weren't really fond of one another. I think Morceli would have won (El G was still young and not the athlete he would become in a couple of years) but it would have been a corker.

Martin

El Guerrouj and Morceli were great friends. I'm not sure where you're getting that they were not fond of each other.

El Guerrouj would likely have won most meetings. He could handle a faster pace easier than could Morceli. El Guerrouj closed in 51 seconds in Athens after running the lap from 800-1200m in 53.28. Morceli had some great finishes in the 37-38 second range for the last 300, but generally that was off 58-60 second per lap pace.

They did meet in 1995, when El Guerrouj was not quite at his best, and Morceli ran 51 seconds for the last lap and won. In 1996 right before he feel it definitely appeared El Guerrouj was poised to beat Morceli. He looked very strong making a move on his shoulder, was ready to pass, and seemed to decide to settle in right as they were reaching the bell because he did want to run wide on the curve. One of El Guerrouj's strides seemed to clip Morceli's left leg and he reacted by throwing his arm out. In the process his right leg went sideways into the path of El Guerrouj's stride and El Guerrouj stepped right on the back of Morceli's Achilles tendon. He went down.

It was pretty crazy as by the time he got up he hit the bell in 2:45 (Morceli went by in 2:42) he took off and made up a full second on Morceli in the next 150m. He caught Laban Rotich who eventually finished 4th but he was so dispirited by the fall that he just gave up in the last 50m and jogged home. He still ran a 55 second last lap and his time from 1100-1300m was a 25 second 200.

In Athens he destroyed Morceli with a 1:18 last 600.

In their prime, if El Guerrouj didn't have a large lead with a lap to go.....Morceli would win. El Guerrouj usually used a hard 600 to close a race. Morceli could run sub 51 if needed to close a race. Too bad we didn't see them both in their prime. I think El Guerrouj is going through the same thing Morceli did after he won gold in Atlanta. The fire just isn't there. I hope we get to see one more season of El Guerrouj.

I believe they were respected rivals, not "great friends", but I'm not privy to first hand information so I'm not got to go too much further with that.

As for Atlanta - El G's leg didn't "appear" to strike Morceli's, it did strike it. Morceli's reaction had no impact whatsoever on El G's subsequent fall.

Morceli was well past his best in Athens, so I don't think it's terribly fair to use that race as a comparison (I could easily say that Morceli destoryed El G in Gothenberg in 1995).

Still, we're debating over what's faster: a Ferrari or a McClarren. They're both pretty quick.

Martin